Mortgage rates are rising after years of downward pressure

2/17/22 7:00PM

Welcome trend-seekers, the answer was B, mortgage rates passed through 7% this week (see updated chart from October 27th, 2022). The story below is originally from a newsletter published February 18th, 2022 when mortgage rates were 3.9%.

More bad news for buyers

If you're a prospective first-time house buyer you've had to deal with the fact that your dream home is now likely to be 15-20% more expensive than it was last year. Now your mortgage rate is likely to be higher too as average 30-year fixed mortgage rates are getting close to touching 4% in the US, the highest reading for almost 3 years.

Cooling off

Higher mortgage rates might curb demand for houses which - in theory - might cool the red hot housing market a touch. But other data shows that there was a record low supply of houses for sale, with just 860,000 previously owned homes on the market last month. Demand might fall in the future, supply already has.

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eBay stock slumps on gloomy Q4 outlook despite solid Q3 earnings

Shares of eBay fell as much as 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday morning after the company gave a lower-than-expected profit forecast for the important holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

eBay outlined its profit outlook for the period ending in December to $1.31 to $1.36 a share, with revenue at $2.83 billion to $2.89 billion. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, this broadly matches Wall Street’s estimates for the top line, but misses on the bottom line, with analysts forecasting EPS to come in at $1.39 — suggesting the company expects some further margin pressure.

The company has been facing macroeconomic challenges since the US ended the de minimis tariff exemption in late August, with the online marketplace reliant on shipments. One small silver lining? CFO Peggy Alford highlighted a “less durable trend” on a post-earnings call: that as commodity prices for precious metals boomed, demand for bullion and collectible coins on eBay spiked.